The Morris C2 Contour drill is also showing superior performance in demonstrations when it is hitched to the manufacturer's 9 Series Precision Air Cart and configured with its paired-row double shoot opener system.

MAXIMISING input efficiency as well as production potential is the ultimate objective for many farmers, and for croppers this can start with accurate seed and fertiliser placement to ensure consistent plant germination and establishment.

Undulating country can pose difficulties for growers, so a machine with sufficient ground-following ability is vital for improved depth control and seed placement.

The Morris C2 Contour drill, featuring independent openers and true one-to-one parallel linkage, has impressed growers with how well it maintains the same depth and places the seed.

Some other machines don’t have the breakout pressure that the C2 offers to keep them in the ground.
Plant counts and crop emergence with the Morris drill have been excellent.

Growers like the easy depth adjustment on the C2, including a simple pin system with each notch on the cam being a quarter inch or six millimetres.

They also like the fact the breakout pressure can be easily adjusted in the cab, as well as the closed loop hydraulic system. The passive hydraulic system on the Morris C2 Contour drill, which uses a hydraulic accumulator, greatly reduces the demand on tractor hydraulics compared with continuous flow systems.

Trash clearance is another positive feature, aided by the reclined single shank design, increased distance to the catch point, alignment of the opener, seed tube and press wheel and different spacings between the openers.

Offering working widths from 7.5 metres (25ft) to 27m (90ft), the C2 Contour drill is also showing superior performance in demonstrations when hitched to the Morris 9 Series Precision Air Cart and configured with its paired-row double shoot opener system.

The metering accuracy provided by the aircarts is excellent. With the spiral fluted metering wheels, the accuracy through the individual primary lines to the heads of the drill delivers uniform seed placement to the boot.

The 9 Series Precision Air Carts, which offer tank capacities from 6550 litres to 35,380L, including the option of 3000-7000L of liquids, are also available with Morris ICT (Section Control), allowing growers to save on fertiliser and seed by eliminating overlap.

Via GPS and the Topcon X30 controller with the Morris air carts, the gear drive system for the metering wheels can be quickly engaged or disengaged, allowing instantaneous shut-off.

In contrast to other auto shut-off systems, the Morris ICT runs individual metering wheels that can immediately stop product.
However, the system remains primed with product to continue as soon as it is re-engaged.

ICT is expected to save growers about six per cent in fertiliser and seed by eliminating overlap.

This is highly valuable considering the increase in seeding bar sizes, enhancing the risk of overlap and higher input usage, while smaller landholdings can benefit as well due to the difficult configuration of some paddocks that can make overlap unavoidable.

The Morris paired-row double shoot opener system places two rows of seed 10cm (4in) apart and fertiliser directly behind the knife point. It creates an undisturbed seedbed or shelf for the seed, and, with the positive packing pressure from the press wheel, it achieves the seed-to-soil contact required to give the seed every opportunity to germinate.

The precision placement of seed in-furrow and the positive packing pressure results in uniform seed placement and germination right across the width of the machine.

This regularly produces yield gains of around 100 kilograms per hectare.

Demonstrations of the Morris C2 Contour drill and 9 Series Precision Air Cart this season, including by McIntosh and Son at Merredin and Geraldton, again proved popular, while they have also sown several community crops for the 2016 season in the northern and eastern Wheatbelts.